Hailar lies on the south bank of the Hai-la-erh River, which flows west into the Argun River at its junction with the I-min River.
The area was occupied by the Chinese in the 7th century AD under the early T ang dynasty, when it was part of the Hei-shui protectorate general. Chinese occupation, however, was short-lived and never very effective. During the Mongol domination in the 13th century, there was a walled settlement on the rivers north bank, traces of which survive. In late Ming times (16th–17th centuries) the area was occupied by the Solon (Tungus) and Daghor (Mongolian) peoples. After 1644, under the Ch ing dynasty, the Manchus gave a considerable degree of autonomy to the local Mongol tribes, who established Hailar as their seat. The citys development was greatly stimulated in 1899 with the arrival of the Chinese Eastern Railway, built by the Russians under the Sino-Russian treaty of 1896. In 1901, during the Boxer Rebellion of Chinese against foreigners, Hailar was occupied by Russian forces. In 1905 it was opened as a river port for foreign commerce. The Chinese government abolished its autonomous status in 1910, renamed the city Hu-lun, and established a regular Chinese local administration.
In 1912, however, the local Mongol population, particularly the Bargut, began a series of rebellions, with Russian encouragement, that forced the Chinese to restore some measure of autonomy. After many Chinese had settled along the railway to the east of Hailar, the Chinese government again canceled (1919) the Barguts autonomy and incorporated the whole area into adjacent Heilungkiang province. Constant pressure and exploitation by the Chinese settlers and merchants brought about a serious Mongol uprising in 1928. The rebellious Mongols established an autonomous region of Hu-lun-pei-erh, the independence of which was recognized by the Japanese in Manchuria. Following the establishment (1931) in Manchuria of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, the Mongolian border area was again organized into an autonomous region, Hsing-an, with Hailar as the northern provincial capital. In 1947 it was incorporated into Inner Mongolia.
The citys primary role has always been that of a market and commercial centre. In earlier times it was the terminus of caravan routes from central Mongolia and the site of great annual horse fairs. Now a railway city and the focus of an extensive road network, it stands between the areas colonized by Chinese settlers and the Mongolian border pasturelands. It trades in meat, hides, and dairy products. Pop. (1990 est.) 180,650. |
